Mad Bills to Pay

Rico’s summer is a wild mix of chasing girls and hustling homemade cocktails out of a cooler on Orchard Beach, the Bronx. But when Destiny, his teenage girlfriend, crashes at his place with his family, it’s only a matter of time before his rowdy, carefree days come spiraling down.

image from about thirty
Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo)

USA / 99 min / 2025 / fiction
DFW Premiere
in English and Spanish with English subtitles
Direction: Joel Alfonso Vargas
Screenplay: Joel Alfonso Vargas
Cinematography: Rufai Ajala
Editing: Irfan Van Tuijl, Joel Alfonso Vargas
Producers: Paolo Maria Pedullà
Cast: Juan Collado, Destiny Checo, Yohanna Florentino, Nathaly Navarro

Trailer

Outrageous comedy lives side-by-side with the addiction drama. But the viewer forgets this amongst the ridiculous and ribald series of jokes and situations that make up the world of the characters. And yet the romantic impulse behind Bionico's quest is hard to shake off even if it appears to be set in a world of squalor and pain. Regardless, each day brings a new opportunity, to make something of yourself, to show the world who you are, or to do drugs all day. The mockumentary format makes these contradictions even more explicit. - Jhon Hernandez